Service innovation

National roll-out of Body Worn Videos

Pioneering the use of video badges, known as Body Worn Videos (BWVs), Marston was awarded Credit Today’s Best Use of Technology: Consumer prize at the Credit Today Awards in 2012.

As of April 2013, all 450+ of Marston’s dedicated enforcement agents are equipped with state-of-the-art video technology that has been even further enhanced.

The newly improved video badges work in tandem with specially equipped laptop computers, which dramatically speeds up the process of sending footage from agents to Marston’s Audit team by enabling the encrypted data to be sent wirelessly, straight from the agent’s location.

“The agents using the video badges report that they feel much more secure with the cameras and we have also seen an improvement in collection rates.

We have been inundated with positive feedback from enforcement agents who believe that the Health & Safety benefits will be immeasurable.”

Barry Duncan, Group IT Director

By using these badges, agents are able to provide visual evidence for stakeholders by recording doorstep visits and this has led to a significant reduction in reputational risk. Scope for complaints has reduced, and there have been measurable benefits in terms of Health & Safety.

“Our commitment to this technology is an extension of our values – particularly in terms of accountability and transparency. This innovation is a real breakthrough for Marston.

Our team has now overcome the final logistical and technical challenges and we are already seeing that this technology leads to a high level of assurance for customers, clients and agents alike.

We believe this success will accelerate industry-wide implementation of similar systems and we are now investigating further benefits such as using this technology to make further breakthroughs in training – for learning purposes and possibly even as part of the certification process that we are aiming for in the future.”

Gareth Hughes, Chief Executive

Columbus: our core IT platform

We have invested over £3.5 million in the development of a unique technology platform to specifically meet the requirements of court fines collection.

Automated flows of information between office and field agent staff, and a secure interface that allows flexible electronic data exchanges with clients and partners, means that customer information no longer remains isolated. Instead it is connected, instantly available at the point of service and can be accessed securely by staff, agents and clients alike. Now everyone keeps up-to-date as it happens.

Mobile payments

We continue to develop our technology working with leading technology suppliers, to build additional capability such as enabling fast and simple credit card transactions using mobile applications for credit card payments.

Numero: managing complaints and correspondence

Complaints and correspondence is a sensitive part of our business. The pure fact that we have received this type of contact from our customers indicates that we as a business have potentially provided an inadequate service. With this in mind, it is vital that we are responsive and take the time to understand when we have let our customers down and how we can try and prevent it happening again.

To support these requirements we have invested significantly in a new complaints and correspondence management system, Numero. Numero allows us to process and respond to complaints and correspondence in a controlled paperless environment with increased visibility through both high sensitivity case identification and quicker access to information.

Numero provides us with a scalable and flexible platform to evolve over time and enable quick ‘root cause’ identification and resolution planning to minimise repeat complaints and correspondence.

“Numero has provided our complaint and correspondence handlers with a paperless system that allows them to easily manage cases from inception through to completion. The removal of time consuming manual processes allows them to dedicate more time to ensure our customers concerns are addressed and investigated properly.

The visibility Numero provides allows my management team to identify where resource is needed and provides clear escalation paths for serious cases. Quality control safeguards the output of the case handlers and is vital in supporting ongoing training and development requirements. The system allows controllable percentages of case output to be quality checked dependent on experience for example.

“In summary, Numero, in combination with the right people, allows me to strategically take the division forward over the coming years and deliver a truly world-class operation.”

Steve Bailey, Head of Complaints and Welfare

In addition to supporting our internal processes, Numero will soon provide further direct support to our customers with the secondary phase launch of our dedicated online customer help centre. This will provide our customers with a central location from which to get answers to frequently asked questions, access contact information, submit complaints/compliments and also complete an interactive full financial statement where required.